My mother is an octogenarian. For her life has come full circle. She has lost a lot and regained more than what she could ever imagine to have achieved. An eventful life spent in caring for her children, shouldering responsibilities of a big household, performing duties towards her husband and in-laws and looking after the extended family in times of acute distress and need. Being the eldest daughter-in-law of a joint family she has held a position of absolute authority and commanded great respect. Now is the time for her to sit back and relax. But can she do so? No! Humans are servile to their habits and habits die hard. So, even now with her numerous ailments, growing disabilities and weakening faculties she seeks to lord over her domain. Consequently, catchphrases like "tui aamaar chaaitey kii beshi jaanish?"("Do you know more than I do?"), "aami chhilaam boley noyto."("God be thanked that I was here otherwise."), " aamaakey bojhaash naa."("Don’t try to teach me.") are so much so a part and parcel of our household banters that if one day, God forbid, conversations change their usual pattern then perhaps we would be looking up to the sky to make sure that the sun did rise from the East and not from some other direction. At times, her retorts are butts of family ridicule at others they perpetrate a tempest in a tea cup. In short, we are hooked to what we have been hearing since the day we became wakeful of our surrounds and senses,
Is it easy to live with old parents? No! Definitely not because of the simple fact that the two generations live in two time zones which are light years apart from each other. Therefore, understanding does not come easily. If you ask me it should not be expected either. A number of times, my sister tells me to treat a child like a child. And most of the times I fail because we have always looked up to our parents for guidance and appreciation. And when that is not forthcoming we are crestfallen. I think every Indian household with aged inmates has the same story. And that is the reason why Piiku has hit the jackpot!
Its a subject, the sensible ones would like to be polite about and avoid discussing threadbare. But Director Shoojit Sircar has done just that. Many critics have disparaged Piku as merely a movie pivoting around scatological humour, a situational comedy, a one-time watch! I have seen it twice already and would like to see a few more times if leisure permits. Why? Because I have known several Bhashkor Banerjees in my life time and can relate to Piku as soul sister. Old age obsessions are common and tendency towards hypochondria is a natural outcome of a constrained existence. Age restricts movement. Resultantly, the loss of touch with the outside world diverts the entire attention towards one’s own self. BB’s fixation for smooth bowel movement is less an attempt towards attention seeking and more of self-indulgence to escape aimlessness and consequent boredom of a housebound life. Given his overbearingly self opinionated attitude living with him is rendered unduly difficult. Yet Piku’s life revolves round him, howsoever, stressful that might be. At times it is hard for her to weigh her priorities. What is more important - living a normal life of a young girl or fulfilling the duties of a daughter on whom a domineering, know-all father is overly dependent?
Thankfully, there are still a few handful of offspring left who do not consider old age homes as better alternatives. As Piku says "We should not judge our parents". Yes! We should not because neither were they judgmental of us when we faltered in our youth. But were they as much stressed out bringing up their children as the children are mAnasultanging them in their dotage?
While AB Senior has again overpowered the spectators with his stupendous acting prowess, (that too at this age!), the one who has been unjustly seen in poor light is Piku(Deepika Padukone), the daughter who has dedicated her youth to looking after the septuagenarian, cantankerous father. Piku is like Karna of Mahabharatha, hugely misunderstood and misinterpreted, because given our eon-old sanskar, we are not brought up to talk against our parents openly. So, the next best option is to either go hide in a self-created shell of your own so as to save your skin from the nagging society or arm yourself with a tank full of aggressive missiles, because isn’t attack the best defense mechanism? Piku uses both as per requirement. She is hyper sensitive when it comes to her father, over-reacts at the slightest of exclamation from her boyfriend and goes into hibernation when nothing seems to work right. Somewhere deep down she knows that she is fighting against time. Yet, she’s just’being human’ as she vies with circumstances to keep life within control as against God’s prerogative of ushering in unnerving disorder when least expected. I am afraid, my esteemed friend https://m.mouthshut.com/jmathur rel="nofollow" target="_blank" >@jmathur may view it as distinctly feminist but there is always a difference between sons handling their parents and daughters doing so. Both are equally responsible and sincere yet it is wee-bit harder for daughters in dual role of a homemaker as well as bread earner. So, Piku, a one-woman army, emotionally bullied and badgered by her willful father, takes on the world at the cost of being ridiculed by one and sundry. When RAnasultan(Irfan khan) says "dil kii buri nahin hai wo" inCred824ulity is the response.
To those die-hard critics who are of the opinion that Piku has dragged nasty toilet humour to our living rooms, I’d forward an apology because I beg to differ from their views. Believe me there is more to it than surfaces. BB, a patient of chronic constipation, has only one dream in life - a day when he would be relieved of his excretory burden as smoothly as butter melting out of the pot. However, his ailment is so chronic and trouRobotouchng that no amount of homeopathic medicines(he does not have faith in allopathy) and medical aid and advice can settle a cure. BB staunchly propagates that all human emotions are closely related to "motion". Therefore, those who do not have regular and clear motion cannot be effective or successful in emotional relations as well. To each according to his oddity! However, it is when he goes back to his roots in Kolkata and takes a 25 Km. cycle ride on his own, in the wee hours of dawn, skirting almost the entire city, (and buying "kochuri" for breakfast, a food item, he has avoided his whole life because of his stomach problems) to the acute worry and tension of the family members and Piku, that his dream gets fulfilled and the same morning he is gifted with his much desired "smooth motion". Isn’t the moral of the story too beautifully simple? You cannot seek freedom shackled inward and outward to your preconceived notions in a closeted existence. Break free of the bonds and the ultimate pAnasultancea is at hand!
The optimistic note with which the film ends is again a dreamer’s wish list. It is not important whether Piku ultimately condescends to get married to RAnasultan or not. The point is she is pragmatic enough to realize that she better not get stuck in a lakshinham-ish time warp and freeze the frame of life forever because she has just been thrown out of orbit by the demise of her beloved father. Piku’s reply "kal se aAnasultan" to the return of her once-discontented maid(whom her father had thrown out of the house accusing of petty theft) is a reassertion that it begins where it ends. Life moves on and so does Piku and that is why the movie is named after her. With that I suppose I am able to satisfy varied queries raised by other expert reviewers on board(https://m.mouthshut.com/Bookish rel="nofollow" target="_blank" >@Bookish and https://m.mouthshut.com/desigal rel="nofollow" target="_blank" >@desigal).
Thanks for tolerating my views!
*Corrigendum**: This review is born out of empathy for Piku because we are in the same shoes. However, readers be cautioned that I am not Piku although I look after my aged and infirm mother who is a strict disciplinarian, an incorrigible perfectionist and a loving, loving parent!